Wednesday Tute 18 – English Paper Piecing 04

Unfortunately, one of the disadvantages of English Paper Piecing is that the seams are pressed open. We can’t change that, but we can manage the intersections.

First, we need a little background. One of the many advantages of printing the shapes on fabric with Inklingo and sewing with a running stitch is that the seam allowances can be pressed to the side around the intersections.

That’s one of the reasons hand pieced blocks sometimes look better than ones made with English Paper Piecing.

In the star above, the seam allowances are all pressed to the side counter clockwise (red arrows) . . .

. . . so the bulk at the center is distributed well.

Doesn’t this look pretty?

There is no lump where the seams come together at the center of the star because the seams are pressed to the side.

This method of pressing works perfectly when 6 diamonds come together at the center of a star AND the technique is exactly the same for 3 hexagons, or 4 squares, or 8 diamonds, or any shape.

If you press all of the stars in the same direction (clockwise or counterclockwise), the quilt top goes together like magic. (Pressing instructions are always included in Inklingo design books and shape collections.)

Sue Daley’s video shows a way to avoid lumpy stars when you are English Paper Piecing (especially at 4 – 4:30 minutes). You can get better EPP intersections if you baste with Sue’s method. It works.

As Sue explains, your intersections will be better if you always start basting at the same point of the diamond and always baste in the same direction. When all of the pieces are identical, you can avoid a lump at the intersection!

Sue’s method works whether you prefer to baste with glue or to baste with a needle and thread.

Notice how the seam allowances at the sharp points are all pointing the same way.

As Sue says, the more time you spend getting the basting right, the fewer problems you will have when it comes to the whip-stitching.

Sue’s method allows you to overlap the tails of seam allowances to distribute the bulk at the intersection. Just be sure to keep these tags out of the way when you are sewing (future tute).

EPP is the slowest and most difficult method in the book, but it is included because it is the method that Lucy Boston used to make all of her quilts, as described in The Patchworks of Lucy Boston by Diana Boston.

The more you know about EPP and Inklingo, the easier it is to choose the method that is best for you.

In Wednesday Tute 15, we showed you how you can print the Inklingo layouts without seam allowances on a variety of template materials to rotary cut your own precise templates.

In Wednesday Tute 16, we showed you how you can print the Inklingo layouts withseam allowances on fabric to use the fabric more efficiently and to make the shapes faster and easier to cut than with acrylic templates.

In Wednesday Tute 17, we showed you a few different basting methods, so you have a choice depending on the template material you have printed.

In the next few Wednesday Tutes, we’ll look at more reasons to use Inklingo when you EPP because Inklingo has advantages for quilters who enjoy whip-stitching and paper templates too.

New to Inklingo? Order and download free shapes and start sewing in the next few minutes. Quick Start (Always FREE.) There are triangles, diamonds, and squares in the free collection—great for dozens of different blocks.

Being in the throes of a raging addiction to Inklingo kaleidoscope stars, I love how fast and easy they are to hand piece using a simple running stitch and get perfect results. I can’t imagine going through the steps needed to achieve anything close to those results with EPP!